Judiciary and courts

Phnom Penh’s chief prosecutor yesterday attributed an alleged rise in Cambodia’s crime rate to an increase in public demonstrations. Prosecutor general of Phnom Penh Municipal Court Ouk Savuth’s theory came out during a speech he made at a meeting of police and prosecutors held at City ...

When the Supreme Court hears land-rights activist Yorm Bopha’s final appeal this morning, familiar cries for justice will come from Boeung Kak women on the streets outside. Much has been written about the housewives of Boeung Kak who have risen up against the government and developers ...

The Supreme Court on Friday temporarily freed jailed Boeng Kak anti-eviction activist Yorm Bopha on bail, but sent her case back to the Court of Appeal to be reinvestigated. During the hearing, which lasted an hour and a half, dozens of monks and supporters of the ...

An “unofficial” land concession granted earlier this year to an agro-industry firm that has logged luxury hardwood in Ratanakkiri province’s Lumphat Wildlife Sanctuary is in violation of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s 2012 moratorium on new economic land concessions (ELCs), a government spokesman said Tuesday. Phay Siphan, ...

A Cambodian rights group said Wednesday that impunity is on the rise in Cambodia, hitting out at the authorities for failing to resolve a number of high-profile killings and bring the perpetrators to justice. Ahead of International Day to End Impunity on Saturday, the Cambodian ...

The Kompong Cham Provincial Court on Saturday charged the chief of Srei Santhor district’s social affairs office with corruption following his arrest by the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) on Friday for withholding pensions and other bonuses from retired teachers, a court official said Tuesday. Provincial court deputy ...

The Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) arrested a senior customs official in Preah Sihanouk province and two Electricte du Cambodge (EdC) officials in Mondolkiri province in separate corruption cases this week, ACU and court officials said Friday. Mondolkiri Provincial Court prosecutor Khut Sopheang said two staff members of ...

One week after police opened fire on civilians during clashes that broke out during an SL Garment Factory protest, killing bystander Eng Sokhom and injuring nine others, arrests have yet to be made on the back of an investigation that victims said appears to be ...

More than 200 villagers involved in three different land disputes gathered in front of Cambodia’s top court in the capital Tuesday to demand the release of jailed rights campaigner Yorm Bopha ahead of her final appeal against a criminal conviction later this week. Yorm Bopha’s impending ...

The government has ordered the SL Garment factory to rehire 19 worker representatives, following a brutal crackdown on demonstrators outside the home of Prime Minister Hun Sen last week. In a letter to the company, Khun Chinken, undersecretary of state for the Ministry of Labor, said ...

Nine South Koreans and four Cambodian nationals allegedly participating in an illegal gambling operation in Siem Reap City were sent to the provincial court for questioning Monday, police officials said. The suspects were arrested Saturday night along with 21 Cambodian women when police raided an illegal ...

A protester involved in Tuesday’s clash between SL Garment Factory workers and security forces filed a complaint yesterday against Phnom Penh’s municipal and military police chiefs, accusing them of responsibility for the death of a 49-year-old street-food vendor who was killed by police gunfire, according ...

Twelve representatives of 50 families in Preah Vihear’s Kulen district are seeking aid from a rights group after being summonsed to court last week over a land dispute with a Malaysian company. The villagers gathered in Adhoc’s provincial office in Srayong commune yesterday to draft and ...

Cambodian and Thai military officials met yesterday morning to discuss the implementation of the International Court of Justice’s ruling on Preah Vihear, with both sides pledging to keep the peace and the Thais agreeing to withdraw to the new line of demarcation. Monday’s judgment declared that ...

The government will spend a total of $13.7 million in the next three years to build new appeal courts outside of Phnom Penh along with free accommodation for judges and prosecutors across the country, according to the draft budget law for 2014, which is scheduled ...

Not even the imminent threat of war could quell tourists’ appetite for historical sites – at least at Cambodia’s Preah Vihear temple, which was the subject of a highly contentious ruling at the International Court of Justice yesterday. While government figures show that local tourism to ...

The International Court of Justice yesterday unanimously declared that its 1962 judgment awarding the Preah Vihear temple to Cambodia also gave the Kingdom sovereignty over the promontory that the temple sits on. But while the announcement was initially greeted as a resounding victory by some in ...

Minister of Water Resources and Meteorology Lim Kean Hor said Monday that he would seek an investigation into a $1.5-million haul of river sand exported to India in April in spite of a ban on the export of dredged sand handed down by Prime Minister ...

Declaring that it has “zero tolerance” towards land grabbing, Coca-Cola has agreed to investigate a long running case in Cambodia where villagers are seeking court action against a company accused of seizing their land to make way for plantations linked to the supply of sugar ...

Defence lawyers representing well-known businesswoman Chhin Sokountheary, also known as the “Crocodile Grandma”, requested the Court of Appeal to consider voiding the tycoon’s warrant for arrest yesterday. Sokountheary was convicted for encroaching on public land and sentenced in absentia to four years and six months in ...

Loggers in Prey Lang forest are under scrutiny once again, after a 21-year-old man was charged with illegally clearing and occupying state-owned land. Kampong Thom Provincial Court yesterday put suspect Ven Nak of Sandan district’s Dang Kambet commune under pre-trial detention, said Khin Vannak, a deputy ...

Three families involved in a land dispute with a private company filed a complaint Monday at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court accusing the company’s owner, businessman Khun Sear, of waging an ongoing campaign of intimidation as he tries to force the families from their homes ...

Some 50 representatives of Phnom Penh’s embattled Boeng Kak community on Monday marched to the offices of the European Union and World Bank to request that the international bodies send observers to the upcoming Supreme Court hearing of anti-eviction activist Yorm Bopha on November 22. Ms. ...

The national park near the ancient Khmer Hindu temple of Preah Vihear will be closed from Monday, eight days before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issues its ruling on disputed land, located near the temple, contested by Thailand and Cambodia. The closure, which would ...